Thread guide



Patented Aug. 5, 1924.

UNITED `starts WILLIAM H. SANDERS, OF WINNSBORC, SOUTH CAROLINA.

THREAD GUIDE.

Application filed July 12, 1923. Serial No. 651,079.

T all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. SANDERS, acitizen of the United States, residing at Winnsboro, in the county of Fairfield and State of South Carolina, have invented new and useful Improvements in Thread Guides, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to thread guides for use in spinning and twisting machines and has as its objects to provide a guide which will olfer a minimum of frictional resistance to the passage of the threadtherethrough; to adord a construction which will permit the guide to be readily threaded; to permit the ready replacement of the antifriction device, which, in the present instance, is a roller; to insure the retention of the thread in the guide and, at the same time, to prevent lateral movement or shifting of the thread on the face of the roller without offering any substantial frictional resistance to the passage of the thread; and,

in general, to afford a construction whichV may be cheaply produced and assembled and which, at the same time, will permit the thread to pass 'freely and smoothly without liability to chafe and cut the same.

In the accompanying drawings there is shown a preferred and practical embodiment of the invention7 and in these drawmgsz- Fig. 1 is an elevational view, or a view showing the guide in bottom plan as it would be positioned over the spindle of a spinning machine.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view,

Fig. 3 is a sectional viewl on theline 3-3 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a view of the blank'from which 4o the guide is formed.

Referring to the drawings for a more detailed description, the guide is preferably formed from a single piece of metal, such as the blank shown in Fig. 4. It comprises a shank 10 which may be attached to the finger piece of a spinning machine frame. The shank merges into an intermediate connecting portion 11 which, at 12, is bent laterally 'from the shank butV the major portionV thereof extends forwardlyv in the same direction as the sha-nk. The intermediate or connecting portion 11 of the blank serves to connect the shank with the body portion 13, which is longitudinally cut, as indicated at 14, to provide a finger 15 which may be bent from the body portion, as indicated in Figs. l and 2. The remainder ofthe body portion is bent laterally'at 16 in the opposite direction from the bend 12 where the shank joins the intermediate portion 11 forming a top 17 for a loop. The body portion is bent downwardly at' 18 to form a loop side 19 substantially paralleling the shank and intermediate portion, and is again bent at 2() to form a loop bottom 21. The end 22 of the body portion is bent at 23 so that the end exten s upwardly toward the top 17 of the loop and parallels the connecting or intermediate portion 11.

It will be noted that the end portion 22 is slightly spaced from the connecting portion 11 to provide a thread passage orthroat 25 having an enlarged inlet or mouth 26. y1`his passage directs the thread within the loopover the tip 27 of the end portion 22.

Within the loop, and preferably spanning or extending across the same there is provided an anti-friction device which, in the preferred form of the invention, is a roller 29 having a bearing in an opening 30 formed in the end portion 22 and in an opening 31 formed in the loop side 19. The opening 30 is of sufHcient size to receive a pintle or axle 32 formed integrally "with the roller, and the opening 31 is slightly larger to permit the roller to be inserted through the same into the loop. The opening 31 is countersunk at 33 and is internally threaded to receive a bearing cap 34 having an opening.J 35 which serves as a bearing for the integral axle 32 and, at the same time, serves to retain the roller in position. Obviously, the invention is not limited to this precise means for retaining the roller within the loop, nor need the pintle 32 be formed integrally with the roller; a separate axle extending through the roller would ordinarily be found satisfactory.

Referring to the construction of the antifriction roller, it will be noted that the same has a central portion 36 of reduced diameter a gradually increasing resistance to thisl movement, which prevents thek breaking of the threads.

It is, of course, old and wel-l known in the art to provide grooved pulleys or yrollers in thread guides, but I have found that when the thead is confined yto vnarrow `grooves it tends to frictionally engage lthe sides of the groove which, ordinarily lbeing substantially at a right angle to the base ofthe groove, offer very lsubstantial frictional resistance to the passage of the thread and tend to chafe and cause breakage of the same. Instead of providing a roller hav-ing a peripheral groove with sides serving to prevent lateral movement, I accomplish the same result by the reduced central portion 26 and gradually tapering end portions 37, which offer resistance to the thread, and this resistance gradually increases .as the thread moves toward the ends of the roller without substantial friction, thereby reducing the breakage of the thread The roller may be of any suitable material; such as fiber glass or wood, and it will be noted that the same may vbe readily replaced, when worn, by simply removing the bearing cap 34, which has a slot i3d which may be engaged by a screw driver or any other suitable implement.

In the use o f a thread guide constructed as disclosed it has been found that upon picking up the thread end `from the bobbin and traveller, after breakage. of thread, any attempt to join same with the broken end of thread near the usual top rol-ler Vof the machine, causes the guide to automatically thread itself, the passage 11 in the latter, in connection with the movement of the traveller, immediately directing `the thread upon the roller 29. The substantially wide roller permits a certain amount of sidewise shifting of threads, and the tapering ends limit the shifting movement but do not strain or chafe very fragile threads which are being twisted. The guide may be stamped or forged from malleable iron, or sheet metal in a single blank, and then subjected to the bending process. The roller bearings maybe drilled simultaneously with the forging, or in one operation.

It should be understood that such modifications may be made vin the structure illus,- trated and described without departing from the scope of the invention.

`shank with said body portion.V

2. A thread guide formed' from a single piece of metal and comprising a shank, a body portion bent laterally, then over the blank and inwardly to form a loop, said body portion having openings therein to form bearings vfor an .lantrfriction roller,

the end of said body portion being fbent' within the loop toward the top thereof and having oneof said openings therein, an antifriction roller in said floop, vand an intermediate connecting portion of said blank joining the shank with said .body portion,

said intermediate portion substantially paralleling the end of .thefbody portion and forming a ypassage for introducing the thread to said roller. Y

3. A thread guide formedfrom a single piece of metal `and comprising Va shank, a body portion Vbent laterally, then over ,the blank `and inwardly to form a loop, said body portion having openings therein to form bearings for an anti-friction roller, the end of said body portion being kbent within the loop toward the top thereof and having one of said openingsl therein, an anti-friction roller in said loop, anda connecting portion of lsaid blank bent laterally from the shank in the Vopposite direction from said body portion and joining the shank with said .body portion, 'said intermediate portion substantially paralleling the end of the lbody portion a-ndforming a passage for introducing the thread -to Vsaid roller.V

4. A thread guide formed from a'single blank and comprising a shank, an intermediate connecting portion, and a body portion forming a loop, said bodyportion being longitudinally slit to form aV linger bent laterally therefromand said loop being formed by bending the remainder of the body portion laterally, then over the intermediate portion and then inwardly, and an anti-friction roller positioned in Yand eirtending across said loop.

5. A lthread guide formedA from asingie blank and comprising ashank, an intermediate connecting portion, and a body portion forming a loop, said body portion being longitudinally slit to forni a finger bent laterally therefrom; Aand said loop being formed bypbending the remainder ofthe body portion laterally, then over the intermediate portion, then inwardly, the end of the body portion then extending upwardly within the loop and substantially parallelllO ing said connecting portion, and an antiformed by bending the remainder' of the 10 friction roller positioned in and extending body portion laterally and then over the across said loop. intermediate portion, and an anti-friction 6. A thread guide formed from a single roller positioned in and extending across 5 blank and comprising a shank, an intermesaid loop.

diate connecting portion, and a body por- In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 15 tion forming a loop, said body portion bemy hand. ing longitudinally slit to form a finger bent laterally therefrom and said loop being WILLIAM I-I. SANDERS. 

